NOWIN RACIAL JUSTICE

How Does It Feel to Be a Black Student at UCLA Law School? [Video]

Just 33 of roughly 1,100 students at UCLA’s School of Law are black. In a video released today, some of those students spoke about how it affects their daily experience. They speak on what it feels like to sometimes be the only black person in a classroom, and to be extremely visible and yet so isolated. This is just some of what students had to say:

“I get here and I’m one of three black students in my section and I’m told that’s impressive. I get here and I’m told I’m one of 11 black students in my class and that that’s impressive. And I wasn’t impressed.”

“I feel my classmates’ eyes on me, particularly if we’re discussing something that brings race, and especially race and gender, into play. It’s so far from being a safe space that it almost feels like staying at home would be better for my mental health, for myself, than being in class.”

“I’ve never felt the burden before to have to represent my community until I came to law school, and it’s not a good feeling to have.”

Last fall, black undergrads at UCLA made a video of their own decrying the racial demographics at the school.

Read this online at http://colorlines.com/archives/2014/02/how_does_it_feel_to_be_a_black_student_at_ucla_law_school_video.html

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